McNeese Ducks Unlimited

[noodle creek]

Originally Posted by Smalls

Define "all", because I'm a DU supporter, and definitely never posted to the effect of believing that.

All of those estimates are based on HIP. Apparently no one here realizes that HIP stands for HARVEST INFORMATION PROGRAM. So yes, you do fill out a harvest report....it happens every year you buy a license. That would include anyone that hunted from out of state. I can't remember, but does HIP request information on the number of birds you killed in the particular state? Or in general? That could skew numbers easily if someone is just counting all of their birds. Another factor could be inaccurate reporting. You all know there are plenty of guys that will not tell the truth, and it wouldn't surprise me if there are those out there that would report idiotic numbers as opposed to zeros.

Then there is the information reported. Does anyone even pay attention to the fact that the standard deviation is 21% for the total duck harvest in 2013? That is pretty high. That means you could potentially knock over 450k off of that number. Of course, it could go the other way as well. those numbers are based on the total number of hunters and the seasonal harvest per hunter. I don't find it that hard to believe that 77,600 hunters averaged 31 birds a season. I mean, if every guy went out and killed a limit for 5 days, there is 30 birds right there.

Obviously, you have those guys that hunt close to 60 days a season, and probably limit nearly every day. That is 360 birds if you limit every day, and would equal the total kills for him plus 11 other hunters, based on those numbers. You've got guys that range all over in there between 0 and 360.

So, while those numbers seem high, with that information, it doesn't seem implausible. It is an estimate, not a hard number. Do I take them as hard fact and credit that do DU? No and No. Does DU deserve some credit for the work they do up north? Absolutely. They are putting in work on the PPR, just like Delta and USFWS. If they weren't working up there to protect those grasslands, there wouldn't be any ducks. Just like most of the midwest, those grasslands would have been converted to some sort of agricultural production, which would have degraded the habitat. But with those organizations and agencies working up there, there is at least some balance between agriculture and conservation.

Now, the real question is, does anyone actually believe that the total national harvest was actually 30% of all the ducks in the total estimated population in 2012?

Estimated Duck Population in 2012: 48.6 million
Estimated Harvest for 2012 (United States): 15.7 million
Percent of Population Harvested in 2012: 32%

I'm not really a DU hater, and any money that goes to breeding grounds and prairie pothole region is fine by me. However, I think DU has slowly gotten away from the true conservation organization it used to be.

As far as surveys, I understand how the HiP program works. I said that I have never been asked individual species. I also said that I don't know anyone who has been asked about the number of birds harvested in Canada.